Memory effects and thermodynamics in strong field plasmas

Abstract

We study the evolution of a strong field plasma using a quantum Vlasov equation with a non-Markovian source term and a simple collision term, and calculate the time dependence of the energy- and number-density, and the temperature. The evolution of a plasma produced with RHIC-like initial conditions is well described by a low density approximation to the source term. However, non-Markovian aspects should be retained to obtain an accurate description of the early stages of an LHC-like plasma.